1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing state indication on a voice communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone networks have been in use for many years and have evolved considerably over time. The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a circuit network that allows telephone calls to be placed between two or more parties. Voice traffic may also be carried on a packet network such as the Internet using a networking protocol commonly referred to as Voice over IP (VoIP). In addition, cellular and other wireless networks have been developed and deployed to allow users to place and receive telephone calls wirelessly. All of these networks, and other private telephone networks, are interconnected to allow individuals on different types of networks to make and receive telephone calls.
As telephone services are developed, they are deployed on the network so that the new services may be sold to telephone customers. For example, telephone conferencing has been developed which allows two or more parties to be interconnected by a bridge. The bridge mixes audio streams from the participants so that all participants can hear each other on the conference call. On a multi-party conference call, many of the participants will locally Mute their telephone to prevent them from being heard on the telephone conference. This enables one or a small number of people to talk on the telephone call while reducing the amount of ambient noise and unintended contributions from other participants. Where people do not Mute their local microphone, the additional audio on the conference call can be distracting to the other participants on the telephone conference and, in particular instances, may even overwhelm the person that is supposed to be talking to such an extent that the person is not able to be heard on the call. People on two party calls may similarly Mute their local microphone for example to screen out background noise from the telephone call.
It is difficult to determine whether a telephone is in the Mute state or in a live state. Some telephones do not provide any indication as to whether the telephone is Muted or not. Since the Mute button may not always function properly, the person will need to rely on other people on the telephone call to let them know that the Mute button is not working Additionally, the user will need to rely on memory to keep track of whether the telephone is in the Mute state or in the live state.
Other telephones provide a visual indication as to whether the phone is in the Mute state. This solution is straightforward and works well in many situations. However, there are times when this solution is less than optimal. For example, if the user is doing other unrelated tasks while listening on the telephone call, the user may not be focused on the telephone and, hence, may not be able to see the light that indicates whether the phone is in Mute state or not. Similarly, the user may not be able to look at the indicator, such as where the user is driving or when the indicator is on the handset, so that the user may not be able to see what state the telephone is in throughout the conference call. In these and other situations, it is easy for a user to lose track as to whether the audio is on Mute or live.
Other features may be implemented on a telephone call as well. For example, the call may be recorded, a second call may arrive while the user is on the first call, and other events may occur. Depending on the capabilities of the telephone, the user may be totally unaware of these changes in call state. Although the change in state may be audibly indicated to the user, such as by pausing the audio and inserting a beep, this type of interruption may be found to be inconvenient to the people on the call. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus for providing a state indication on a telephone call.